I would guess that since your TV doesn't support ARC, you would have to go into your TV menu under the audio section and select multichannel output. I don't know if you are using a cable box but if you are you might want to simply run the optical cable from the cable box optical out to the receiver optical input, bypassing the TV entirely. That's the way I have mine setup and I haven't had any problems.

Thank you; I have since realised this by looking at my parents set up. I am yet to buy a HD box but will be getting one soon so will run the optical cable as you said when I have it. I will have a look at the TV settings for now, but I guess it isn't so bad that daytime TV isn't running surround sound.......

I have just purchased the VSX-521-k and a Viero TC-P42S30 panasonic plasma "smart" TV. I have finished most of the setup using high speed HDMI cables. They run from the PVR to 521 to TV. Also run an older Philips DVD/R with HDMI to the 521. I only have 2 front speakers. I have an optical cable from the the TV Audio out to the 521 TV(SAT) in. I have an ethernet cable from my computer to the TV as the 521 has no internet capability.

The sound from the TV programs is great! The sound from the DVD player is great, I'm very pleased with both. I have yet to run the tuner in the receiver but presume it is also OK. My problem is the DLNA connection. I cannot get the sound from these movies to run through the 521 system, but the sound will play on the TV speakers so it is getting to the TV. I thought the Optical Audio cable would route the sound back through the 521 - but not so. I have pushed every button I can find!

I keep all my movies on a separate 500GB internal HDD drive with the idea of playing them back through the system for great sound and being an old retired codger I got this new system mainly for this purpose. HELP? Anybody advise what I'm missing?? Thanks

I have been having some issues with video with my LG BD570 going through the receiver to my LG 32LH40 tv. Sometimes I will lose video and sometimes it will go green. The solution is to turn off my receiver and tv, turn the receiver back on, wait a few seconds, then turn on the tv.

I am thinking this may be a issue with my HDMI cables so was thinking of picking a couple up from Monoprice. When ordering from Monoprice, which cables do you usually go with (I prob would go with 6ft)?
I saw the video and they said some were not recommended cause they introduce too much resistance, so am a little confused as to which I need.

I have been having some issues with video with my LG BD570 going through the receiver to my LG 32LH40 tv. Sometimes I will lose video and sometimes it will go green. The solution is to turn off my receiver and tv, turn the receiver back on, wait a few seconds, then turn on the tv.

I am thinking this may be a issue with my HDMI cables so was thinking of picking a couple up from Monoprice. When ordering from Monoprice, which cables do you usually go with (I prob would go with 6ft)?
I saw the video and they said some were not recommended cause they introduce too much resistance, so am a little confused as to which I need.

6ft should be fine at AWG24 or AWG26 and unless you're running a 50ft cable it sounds more like a receiver issue than a cable issue.

Just bought a 521K and the panasonic TCP60s30, I also have a Sony blue-ray and Rogers Cable box.

Connections are all thru the 521K via hdmi and monitor out to the tv.

The issue is this:

My wife and daughters are used to using the Cable box remote to control the volume as we watch TV. With my Old receiver (Yamaha htr5550), using component, this was not an issue, but I can't figure out how to configure the system so I can leave the 521K on at a standard level, and use the Cable box for volume control. I can see the 'volume bars' going up and down on the screen, but it has no effect on the volume coming out of the speakers.

What have I done wrong?

On my Time Warner DVR Cable remote, I permanently assigned Volume Buttons to the receiver. This means the receiver must be used for all TV watching but here's how I did it for Time Warner UR5U-8780L-TWM cable remote:

You can also assign Volume Buttons to AUX in *any* other device mode as well.
In step 1. above, instead of CBL, simply press *any* other device (DVD or VCR or TV).
You can assign Volume Buttons to AUX to all devices using this method.

Is it necessary to use an "amplified" subwoofer. I have a subwoofer box and I installed a speaker in it but I cannot get any sound. I have done all the setup with the OSD and set surround sound but no luck! The speaker works fine when tested on the L or R speaker connections. Any thoughts?

Is it necessary to use an "amplified" subwoofer. I have a subwoofer box and I installed a speaker in it but I cannot get any sound. I have done all the setup with the OSD and set surround sound but no luck! The speaker works fine when tested on the L or R speaker connections. Any thoughts?

Yes, the subwoofer out is a line level output, meaning it is meant to supply the LFE signal to a powered subwoofer. It is not a speaker level signal so it cannot drive a speaker by itself.

Five28 - Thanks for that. I've spent hours on this so I'm glad to get the answer even though I won't have a subwoofer. I can't afford the prices I see for these subwoofers and since my speakers are just a conglomerate I've had for years, they suit me well enough. I had hoped I could add a little more base but I'll just have to depend on my existing ones.
--
cheers

You seem pretty handy since you already installed a subwoofer driver into a box. Maybe consider buying one of these sub amps and mounting it to your sub box, then you'll have yourself a powered subwoofer for less than $100.

I can get the vsx-512 today for $135 or the vsx-40 elite for $250. I play music( not necessarily high fidelity) and watch dvd and movies. Would I ge getting a lot more to justify the price difference. Thanks for the opinions.

I can get the vsx-512 today for $135 or the vsx-40 elite for $250. I play music( not necessarily high fidelity) and watch dvd and movies. Would I ge getting a lot more to justify the price difference. Thanks for the opinions.

You'd get the same power ratings (80 watts per channel) but you get two more channels (7 vs 5) but the main benefit I see from a quick glance at the VSX-40 specs is the 1080p upconversion which the 521 doesn't have. That alone might make it worth the extra coin.

I have been having some issues with video with my LG BD570 going through the receiver to my LG 32LH40 tv. Sometimes I will lose video and sometimes it will go green. The solution is to turn off my receiver and tv, turn the receiver back on, wait a few seconds, then turn on the tv.

I am thinking this may be a issue with my HDMI cables so was thinking of picking a couple up from Monoprice. When ordering from Monoprice, which cables do you usually go with (I prob would go with 6ft)?
I saw the video and they said some were not recommended cause they introduce too much resistance, so am a little confused as to which I need.

I had the same problem (sometimes lose video and sometimes it will go green) with my satellite DVR and only when watching recordings (no problems with Bluray, antenna DVR...) I tried putting satellite DVR directly to TV (hdmi) and from DVR digital COAX to AVR. It worked so fine that I left it so If I have understood it right this way TRUE HD audio is lost but not big loss for me, Dolby Digital at least works fine.

I just got a pretty good deal on this receiver, and aside from a couple of setup quirks (MCACC incorrectly setting my front speakers to "large," picking up a ground loop hum from the cable box) it's been easy to configure and sounds great! It definitely blows my old Insignia NS-2001 out of the water.

One question though: do the EQ presets (rock/pop, classical, acoustic, etc.) bypass the MCACC configuration? This is really the only device I've ever had where the EQ presets sounded good, but I'm wondering if it's "correct" to use them? I'm running a 2.1 setup, and I know it's a moot point for 2-channel audio, but am I going to miss sound on the other channels when I use a 5.1 source?

I purchased the 521 a few days ago, to replace an old Dolby Digital receiver that only had coax and optical digital inputs (and the optical stopped working).

The receiver connects to a blueray player (sony BDP-360), Xbox 360, and HTPC.

Getting this thing set up has been a bear, but I'm not sure the avr is to blame.

Issues I've had:

1. HTPC would only send 2 channel sound to receiver. After hours, I find that for some dumb reason, the specific graphics card will not transport 5.1 encoding of any type. What the hell is the point of allowing audio out by HDMI if it doesn't allow surround encoding? Fixed by connecting to the AVR with optical.

2. Xbox 360 would not play nice when connected Xbox-avr-TV (all through HDMI). The light on the avr indicated it was getting info from the Xbox, but the tv screen was blank (although it indicated that it was getting a signal). Xbox 360 will not boot unless it sees there is video hooked up, so I assume it was having trouble handshaking going through the avr. Fixed by hooking the xbox directly to the TV, and using the optical out on the tv to go to the receiver. Luckily my TV will send 5.1 out through the optical, even if it comes in through HDMI.

3. The manual lists all of the different display indicators for different codecs, but it leaves out one important one: 5.1 PCM. I was very confused because I was obviously getting 5.1 surround out of my blueray player (in pure mode I was getting obvious surround from all speakers), but none of the indicators were lit to show what format the avr was using. It turns out I had a setting wrong with my player, and it was downmixing to PCM from DD and DTS HD codecs. The only indicator of this is that when pressing "DISP" on the remote, the avr screen would scroll "PCM." The manual makes no mention of this, and I had no idea whether it was set up correctly or not. Fixed by setting the BD player to the correct settings to do no mixing internally.

4. Had a bit of trouble getting my subwoofer to hit like I expected. I must like more bass than the MCCAC wanted me to have, as I had to increase the bass level. In speaker settings, I also set the subwoofer to "Plus," which if understand this, means that it gets low frequency 5 channel sound re-directed in it in addition to the LFE channel.

The auto MCCAC calibration made the sound very good out of the box, especially when you consider I have an asymmetrical speaker layout.

I'm happy for what I paid, but I also kinda miss the days where setting up hifi meant plugging in a bunch of RCA cables and connecting the speakers, and then cranking it.

My receiver has not yet arrived from woot.com. However, I'm curious if people anyone who has this thing w/a TiVo is using the tivo remote to control volume/mute/etc.

I've always set up my TiVo remotes to control volume and power on my TV receivers, simply because I don't necessarily want to use my HT receiver for all the programs on my TiVo. This is an interesting question, because to my knowledge, TiVo boxes don't support CEC. If you look at the Settings menu for the remote, you'll see that there is only a facility for setting up control of the TV receiver.
In a word, then, NO.

So I just recieved my VSX-521k and I ran the MCACC setup and tweaked it a little. At first listen it seems like the Pioneer sound is flat and lifeless compared to my old Denon receiver. Any hints on tweaking the sound on the Pioneer to make it sound better?

This is an interesting question, because to my knowledge, TiVo boxes don't support CEC. If you look at the Settings menu for the remote, you'll see that there is only a facility for setting up control of the TV receiver.
In a word, then, NO.

My receiver arrived today. And the TiVo remote works just fine. Only needed it to do volume and mute. My TV supports CEC so that controls the power on the receiver. I don't ever turn off the TiVo so I don't know why I'd want CEC between the TiVO and the receiver.

So I just recieved my VSX-521k and I ran the MCACC setup and tweaked it a little. At first listen it seems like the Pioneer sound is flat and lifeless compared to my old Denon receiver. Any hints on tweaking the sound on the Pioneer to make it sound better?

Update, ok that was true for the cable programs like HBO so I popped in a Bluray and the sound was much better.